PIRSA Fruit Fly Response Program Incident Controller Jason Size understands the pressures on growers, as he has been involved in the Riverland stone fruit industry for decades.
“I’ve got skin in the game and I’m working to eradicate fruit flies from our region – our aim is to be fruit fly free,” Jason said.
Jason started working for PIRSA in April this year and took over as Incident Controller in May. This role involves managing the day-to-day operations of the Riverland fruit fly outbreak response on the ground, including support programs and staff.
“It also involves quite a bit of community engagement to ensure our messages are getting to the people who matter – growers and community members,” he said.
“We have quite a few grower groups in the Riverland – citrus, summer fruit, winegrapes, tablegrapes – as well as Ag Bureaus, councils, community groups and schools. I try to go around to these groups and educate them about fruit fly. I also do regular interviews on ABC Radio to explain what we’re doing in the Riverland in terms of the fruit fly response.”
The response team employs a range of tactics: installing fruit fly traps, checking fruit and vegetables on properties for maggots, removing host fruit and vegetables from properties, applying organic bait to fruit trees, ornamental and native trees, cleaning up fallen fruit, and releasing sterile fruit flies using the sterile insect technique (SIT).
PIRSA’s sterile Queensland fruit flies are bred at the Port Augusta SIT facility, transferred to Barmera where they are reared into adult flies, then dispersed by air and sometimes by road over a designated outbreak area. Saturating an area with sterile flies helps control the overall wild fruit fly population by interrupting the breeding cycle.
PIRSA is also focused on working with growers to ease market access for Riverland crops. This includes working with the wine industry to ensure grape movement conditions are not onerous for vineyard owners and wineries.
“While winegrapes are a less preferred host for fruit flies, they will go to grapes to feed if that’s the only food source and they can be picked up in grape loads,” Jason said.
“We encourage vineyard owners to check their crops and keep the vineyard floor free of grape material, which can be attractive for fruit flies. And keep an eye out for any grape movement conditions that will be in place for vintage 2025. All of these actions help in the effort to eradicate fruit flies from the Riverland region.”
Jason said the Riverland community was generally aware and supportive of fruit fly response activities aimed at eradicating the pest, to ensure the Riverland Pest Free Area status was maintained.
“It’s a continual communication process to keep reiterating the key messages about checking trees and keeping up garden hygiene, such as collecting fruit off the ground and removing excess fruit off trees. These simple actions are an essential part of disrupting the fruit fly life cycle, and everyone can help play their part,” he said.
“The last thing we want is to be in the position of the eastern states where fruit fly is endemic and industries have to use persistent chemicals to deal with the pest, which costs them more. And residential communities struggle to grow food in their backyards because it’s continually attacked and spoiled by fruit flies.
“When we look at the numbers, we’re still in a very good position to achieve eradication in the Riverland. There are areas where we haven’t seen any sign of fruit flies for weeks or months. So, what we’re doing is working.
“I encourage growers and residents to be patient, to keep removing excess fruit off trees and picking it up off the ground, and to allow our teams access to properties to conduct all their necessary work.”
For more information about fruit fly outbreaks and prevention, click here.
